“There’s already been so much change,” I murmur.
“Quickly now, you must go and claim your true heritage. Nothing else matters.”
I have so many more questions for her, but she’s right. I need to stop Ahren from marrying someone else. I lift a shaky hand to my mouth and blow a breath, blue air misting outward past my lips. Return me to the Shadow Court in—
My words fade as the portal materializes before me within seconds. This has never gone so easily before. Is it the ruby inside me, or my mother's help?
“Go swiftly.” She nudges me in the back.
I stumble forward and cross the threshold into darkness.
Chapter 14
Deimos
“Have you seen Guen...Gainy?” I ask the twentieth staff member this morning, almost slipping up her name each and every single time.
The maid shakes her head, her gaze low. “Sorry, Your Highness, but I’ve asked around too, and no one has seen her since yesterday.”
I snap away from her and march down the hallway, then swing directly into her chamber again, but I don’t even know what I’m searching for, what could possibly indicate where she’s gone to.
Luther charges into the room behind me, and my heartbeat spikes with hope, with anticipation that he brings news.
But the devastation on his face sinks through me, dragging me to a horrible place where I imagine that she’s somewhere hurt. We never should have left her alone.
“Absolutely fucking nothing,” Luther growls. “We’ve searched the palace and mansion, along with the grounds and town. I can’t even reach her with my thoughts. Something’s blocking her off from me.”
I turn to my brother. “How did Ahren take it?”
Luther scoffs incredulously at my questions. “You think I’ll tell him on his wedding day that the girl he loves has gone missing? But I did ask him when he saw her last, and like everyone else, it was yesterday.”
I trudge over to the window, scanning the courtyard below for her long blonde hair, the adorable way she walks with a swing of her hips. I keep hoping I’ll spot her and that this is just some huge misunderstanding. “He needs to know,” I murmur as I turn to Luther. “Ahren will murder us if we don’t tell him and she ends up hurt.” I swallow against the lead ball pressing into my throat.
Luther runs his hand through his hair like he does whenever he’s holding onto a secret. He’s easy to read like that, plus his gaze is miles away.
“What aren’t you telling me, brother?” I lean back against the couch, watching my brother, who stands several feet away by the window.
His head cocks up toward me. “Guendolyn healed Ahren’s wings.”
My eyes bulge. “That’s incredible! He should be in a great mood then.”
Luther’s face scrunches up as his mouth tugs to the side. “Not quite. He told Guendolyn about his marriage and why he can’t be with her. She ran away from him, and it’s the last he’s seen of her.”
“Fuck, Luther, you could have started with that! So it means she’s upset and maybe ran away to hide somewhere?”
Luther looks at me in disbelief like my suggestion is improbable. “She loves us,” he says. “She wouldn’t hide from us.”
“We weren’t here when she needed us most,” I remind him.
His deadpan stare tells me everything. Yeah, we had no say in going to meet Father, but this fucking sucks.
“Alright,” I state. “Where would someone devastated go?” Just saying those words out loud has my chest squeezing as I picture her somewhere alone and heartbroken. She needs to be in my arms where I can remind her she’s not alone and explain why Ahren is in a shitty situation that will haunt him his entire life. I just wish Ahren would have spoken to her earlier as he promised he would.
I curl my hands into fists. This isn’t how any of this is meant to play out. Luther and I had spoken about asking Guendolyn to marry us; we’d intended for the three of us to live in this mansion, making a new life together. It’s everything I want, but I know she hurts for Ahren. And that’s going to be a hard obstacle to overcome.
“We split up,” Luther begins. “And we do another sweep, keeping in mind we are searching for places she’d use to escape everyone.”
I nod. “We need to find her fast, as Mother will hunt us down herself if we miss the wedding. It's meant to begin shortly, and we’re not even dressed yet.”
Luther huffs. “I fucking hate this wedding.” He pivots on his heels and storms out of the room and into the hallway. I do the same and decide to commence searching from the top of the mansion, then make my way down. There are so many empty rooms; maybe we missed something on the first sweep.
Around the next corner, I walk right into Jasion, who rushes without looking. Stumbling back, I groan while he bows his head.
“Apologies, Your Highness, for not seeing you. This is a manic day, and I have so much to prepare for the ceremony.”
As much as I dislike the mage, I don’t miss the opportunity to ask, “Have you seen Gu-Gainy?”
He stiffens at my question, piquing my curiosity.
“Well?” I urge him, stepping closer, my gut twisting in on itself. I’ve always hated him. As far as I’m concerned, no one will miss him if he’s booted out of our court.
“This morning,” he says and clears his throat, lifting his gaze to me. “I saw her just after dawn.”
Hope springs to life inside me. “Where?” I eagerly ask, leaning forward.
“I was looking out the window as I awoke, and she was running through the woods outside the kingdom walls.”
“What?!” I shout, unsure if I heard right. “Are you sure you saw right? There are fucking Bloodcursed out there.”
He nods, his face paling, and there’s fear
